Margarita Espada 

Margarita Espada, MFA Artist, Educator, Activist 

She is a performer, educator, cultural maker, researcher, and activist in the fields and studies of physical theater, body and embodiments, settlers-colonialism, race, ethnicity, and migration. 

Margarita is the founder and director of Teatro Experimental Yerbabuja, an art organization with the mission to use the arts as a tool for social change (www.teatroyerbabruja.org). She is part of the faculty at the Department of Women Study at Stony Brook University where she teaches theater and activism. 

Margarita received her Master of Fine Art in Dramaturgy from Stony Brook University and her Bachelor of Art in Education from Puerto Rico University. She is a New York State and Puerto Rico-certified theatre teacher with over 30 years of experience as an educator, performer, playwriter, arts activist, and cultural and community organizer. 

She has conducted research, supported school and organization change efforts, and facilitated teacher / professional learning around applied theater, culturally responsive practice, curriculum design, problem solving, and reflective communication. Margarita advocates on the importance of arts and culture for the social and economic well-being of the local and global community. Her work advancing the art of LatinX, Black, Indigenous, and artists of color on Long Island has made her one of the most prominent leaders in Long Island. She is a board member for the New York State Dance Force and a member of the Arts Advisory Council for the Suffolk County Legislature. 

She has received numerous awards and proclamations for her leadership, her art and community work including 2021 Faces of Long Island, Newsday, 2018 Martin Luther King Living Legend Award, NAACP Islip, NY, 2018. Her work has been reviewed in the New York Times and by the Associated Press, Newsday, and numerous other media outlets.